Two false starts.
A different perspective.

01The first attempt

First, a cosy idea.

My first idea was a cosywear marketplace. Bathrobes, blankets, plush socks. Everything you’d want for a Norwegian winter.

I could already picture the campaign: people jumping into ice water, then climbing straight into an oversized hoodie. I pitched it to every AI I could find. The responses were enthusiastic. So was I.

Then I looked more closely at the market. Big brands were already selling robes for 300 kr. I couldn’t find the gap I thought I’d seen. The encouragement hadn’t helped me question the idea.

02The second attempt

This time, I started building.

Next came an affiliate platform. Businesses would pay a monthly fee to be listed, and I’d help connect them with promotion. I still liked the core idea.

I spent about a month building a website and writing a detailed growth strategy. I had the weeks ahead mapped out. This wasn’t just an idea in a chat anymore. I was putting real time into it.

03The question I hadn’t asked

Then my dad sent me a link.

It was about DAC7. It raised reporting obligations I hadn’t accounted for, and suddenly I was facing questions about the model that I didn’t know how to answer.

I went back to the AI. I’d described the business in detail. Why hadn’t this come up? After a month of encouragement, I needed to rethink what I’d been relying on.

I didn’t need more confidence in my plans. I needed help finding their weak spots.

04An unexpected side project

Built between shifts.

Vyrd started on the side, while I was still working on the affiliate platform. Getting the first AI response inside something I’d built myself hooked me.

I was working more than full time across two jobs. But I kept finding time: lunch breaks, evenings, gaps between shifts. When my hours dropped in summer, I finally had room to build properly.

05The bigger realisation

Everything was scattered.

My business thinking lived across Claude, ChatGPT, Apple Notes and code editors. The plans were in one place. The decisions were somewhere else.

Every new chat meant explaining it all again. What I’d tried. Why I’d changed direction. What had happened since. Too much of my time went into rebuilding context instead of moving forward.

So I decided to rethink Vyrd. Not just the answers it gave, but what those answers could build on.

06What I’m building towards

The next decision shouldn’t start from zero.

That’s the idea behind Vyrd: keep the work and the learning connected. What you thought, what you tried, and what actually happened.

The aim isn’t an AI that agrees with everything, or one that pretends to have every answer. It’s a place to build a clearer understanding of your business over time, including the things that don’t fit your original plan.

That’s what I wanted when I started. It’s what I’m building now.